from NPR's Talk of the Nation
Cornel West Reconsiders President Obama
Professor Cornel West confesses that he's having second thoughts about President Obama. In an interview with Playboy, he said he wished the president were more "Martin Luther King-like."
West is also concerned about the lack of love and respect he sees between people, particularly where race is concerned. "Love and trust and justice, concern for the poor, that's being pushed to the margins, and you can see it," West tells NPR's Tony Cox. The culprit? Greed, says West, manifest in the actions of players on Wall Street, "our televisual culture that's obsessed with superficial spectacle" and the education system "where the market model becomes central."
Professor Cornel West confesses that he's having second thoughts about President Obama. In an interview with Playboy, he said he wished the president were more "Martin Luther King-like."
West is also concerned about the lack of love and respect he sees between people, particularly where race is concerned. "Love and trust and justice, concern for the poor, that's being pushed to the margins, and you can see it," West tells NPR's Tony Cox. The culprit? Greed, says West, manifest in the actions of players on Wall Street, "our televisual culture that's obsessed with superficial spectacle" and the education system "where the market model becomes central."
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Cornel West: The Black Conscience or A Brooding Crank?
by Pascal Robert
In this video clip, Princeton Professor Dr. Cornel West states his concerns about the Obama Administration's direction one year into its existence. West's emphasis on the need for President Obama to show courage and back bone is quite telling coming from one sensitive to the negative connotation of Black male fecklessness and how its been used as a trope throughout strategic points in American history. Is Cornel West's critique over the top? Is there a subtle attempt to take jabs at Barack Obama's manhood evidenced in such statements?
Personally, I think West is above such pettiness. However, the extent of his dissatisfaction with Obama is palpable. The larger question is whether West's unhappiness is a reflection of the Black Community's sentiments generally, or the indulgences of an academic with the trappings of the Ivy League providing a parlor room for his political musings.
by Pascal Robert
In this video clip, Princeton Professor Dr. Cornel West states his concerns about the Obama Administration's direction one year into its existence. West's emphasis on the need for President Obama to show courage and back bone is quite telling coming from one sensitive to the negative connotation of Black male fecklessness and how its been used as a trope throughout strategic points in American history. Is Cornel West's critique over the top? Is there a subtle attempt to take jabs at Barack Obama's manhood evidenced in such statements?
Personally, I think West is above such pettiness. However, the extent of his dissatisfaction with Obama is palpable. The larger question is whether West's unhappiness is a reflection of the Black Community's sentiments generally, or the indulgences of an academic with the trappings of the Ivy League providing a parlor room for his political musings.
Read the Full Essay @ The Huffington Post
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